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Share how #YOUbelonginSTEM for National STEM Day, November 8th

October 27, 2022

On October 12th, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten announced the YOU Belong in STEM initiative at the Innovating for the Future Summit, held by STEMConnector, Million Women Mentors, and the STEMx network.


This initiative aims to improve STEM education outcomes by advancing a sense of inclusion and belonging in STEM for all students and teachers and has three primary goals:

  1. Ensure all Pre-K-Higher Education students have access to, and benefit from rigorous, relevant, and joyful STEM learning.
  2. Support STEM educators by strengthening opportunities to join, grow, and stay in the STEM teaching field.
  3. Encourage education and youth-serving systems and organizations to invest American Rescue Plan and other federal, state, and local funds in STEM education.


As a network of organizations poised to expand participation in STEM among historically underrepresented groups, we can think of no better initiative to support on National STEM Day than YOU Belong in STEM, and we invite you to join us! Let’s leverage the power of our networks to shine a spotlight on STEM education and highlight your efforts to advance diversity, equity, inclusion and access in STEM.

Please join us in this simple, high-impact effort by following the steps below:


Step 1: Consider these questions: 

  1. Why is diversity in STEM important?
  2. Why is it important that all students and teachers believe that they have a place in STEM? 
  3. What can you do, or what are you already doing, to advance diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in STEM?
  4. Why is an initiative like YOU Belong in STEM important?
  5. Or, if you're a student: How do you belong in STEM?


Step 2: Make a short (30-second) video on your phone.

  1. Answer one of the questions above. 
  2. Conclude your video with the statement, “YOU Belong in STEM.”


Step 3: Upload your video by Monday, November 7th

  1. Upload your video here and label it with your first and last name, job title and organization name as follows:
  2. NAME_STEMleader_STEMorganization


Step 4: Follow along and share on Tuesday, November 8th!

  1. Follow @STEMx on Twitter you'll see as we tweet out each new video.


Need a few ideas to get you started? Check out the videos below from some of the leaders at STEMconnector, Million Women Mentors and STEMx.


Celebrating the 2023 STEM Innovation Forum

By Rob Evans • November 1, 2023
by Heather Sherman, Director of STEMx The 2023 STEM Innovation Forum: Activating Collaborations to Advance an Inclusive STEM Workforce was a success! Through our collaboration with STEMconnector and Million Women Mentors, we convened 160 leaders from industry, government, non-profit organizations, and education institutions from all over the United States to discuss strategies and best practices to support the STEM workforce. We were honored to host a variety of dynamic speakers including: Jared Polis, Governor of Colorado Brynt Parmeter, Chief Talent Management Officer, U.S. Department of Defense Dr. Athina Kanioura, Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, PepsiCo and Dr. Lisa Hinkelman, Founder and CEO of Ruling Our eXperiences (RoX). We extend our gratitude to our panelists, Learning Session speakers, and participants who joined us in Denver. Broadening participation We set out share information on trends in STEM education and workforce development, with an emphasis on broadening participation in STEM careers. Resources from sessions highlighting strategies for broadening participation are linked below: DoD STEM: Developing a STEM Workforce to Support the National Security Mission Priming the Pump for High Demand STEM Careers STEM Workforce Readiness for Teen Girls: “If She Can See It, She Can Be It” Driving change Another goal of the forum was to feature high impact strategies, programs and solutions that are driving change, and STEMx members from LASTEM , the PAST Foundation and MBRT showed how they are engaging youth and building career awareness through their workforce programs. Emerging technologies We looked towards the future to better understand how emerging technologies will change the world and the ways we must prepare STEM talent for jobs in logistics, artificial intelligence, research safety , bioenergy , and renewable technologies. Chevron‘s sponsored panel, “Cultivating the Talent to Drive the Innovation and Technologies for Ever-Cleaner Energy” was a rich discussion featuring experts from Chevron, Project Lead the Way and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Dr. Jamie Vernon, Executive Director, and CEO, Sigma Xi Society was a fantastic moderator for this discussion. Next steps We have linked event resources including videos, slide decks and collateral on the event landing page . The event photo gallery is located there as well. If you attended, please complete our 30 second event survey . Five lucky winners will be selected at random to receive a Forum water bottle! More importantly, your feedback matters to us. If you did not attend, mark your calendar for next fall - we’re looking to make next year even bigger! If you are interested in hosting in your state, or have thoughts about compelling content that we should include, please reach out to Heather Sherman .

STEM Innovation Forum: Agenda and New Sponsors

By Rob Evans • October 3, 2023
Join us for The STEM Innovation Forum: Activating Collaborations to Advance an Inclusive STEM Workforce
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